The office complex used to be owned by a company called 'SwiftShip'. Philomena knew that because of the discolored patches on the wall of its small lobby, where the letters of their logo used to hang. The front desk was on her left, and two ratty couches and a coffee table were in the righthand corner. Dead ahead was the front door. Due to the plate steel welded over it, she couldn't see anything.

As she got closer to its intrapanel, her heart thumped loudly.

What if it's a scam …?

She took a breath to steady her nerves.

You can deal with this. You've got an amazing business mind, your executive style is shining brighter than the star outside, and that Cartoobian facial did wonders for your skin.

She tapped the icon and opened the front door, but she kept her fingertip hovering a fraction of an inch over the icon to close it again, in case she saw something she didn't like.

The door slid aside, revealing …

"Hello, I'm Xavian Darrd."

Her thumping heart exploded. She reeled backwards, like a blast of engine exhaust was blowing her off her feet. Her lips trembled and curled up in spasms. Then, she jammed the touchscreen so hard a jolt of pain shot up her bent-back finger all the way up to her elbow.

The door instantly slid shut again.

She clapped her hands over her chest and waited for her pounding heart and heaving breastbone to relax.

What do I do?! I wasn't expecting that!

Once her body had calmed down, she cleared her throat and gently tapped the icon to open a comms channel outside. Although her body buzzed with shock, she forced herself to move slowly and calmly, with the poise of a natural-born executive.

"Excuse me," she said. "Just a moment, please."

"Sure," Darrd replied.

She closed the channel, took a big step backward, and then inhaled deeply.

I can handle this.

Then she whirled around and pelted through the hallways. She took the corner too fast, and skidded crazily while her outstretched arms flapped wildly and windmilled around. One of the warehouse doors was just ahead. She thrust her hand out to hit the intrapanel's icon while she was moving, but missed and stubbed her finger. Digging her heels into the floor, she ground to a halt. The tip of her nose nearly brushed the dirty surface of the door. After tapping the icon, she shifted her weight from foot to foot three times in one second. Then, at last, the door opened. She grabbed both sides of the frame and launched herself through it.

The warehouse was long and wide, but it was the same height as the hallway. Pipes, cables, and ducts wove through the overhead beams holding the ceiling up. The rows of shelves were mostly empty, except for dozens of cardboard boxes full of printed paperwork left behind by the place's old owners. Near the door, a plastic curtain went around a metal basin built into the floor and a showerhead on the wall.

Philomena ran up to the shower.

"Hot!" she shouted.

Behind the curtain, Ramirex shrieked and leaped three feet into the air. She twisted around at the height of her jump and landed facing Philomena. Her knees gave out when her feet came down, shaving several more inches off her already-paltry height.

She poked her head through the gap in the curtains, but grabbed one side and held it in front of her body. The see-through plastic hid nothing, however. The water made her short, black, shampoo-soaked hair cling to her dark olive face.

"Ph-Ph-Philomena! What …?"

"Hot!"

With a dopey frown, Ramirex asked, "Hah?!"

Philomena squeezed her eyes shut and sealed her lips. Breathing deeply through her nose, she cooled off the flush heating up her body. After her shaking was under control, she snapped her eyes open and stared right at the other woman. As she spoke, she thrust her arm towards the wall and pointed to the lobby.

"There is a HOT GUY … at the door!"

It seemed like the water running down Ramirex's face was making her frown heavier. Her head sagged towards the floor, and she had to tilt it back sharply just to keep her eyes on Philomena.

"Um, Philomena …? You do know what the word 'lesbian' means, right?"

Philomena rolled her eyes so hard the rest of her head followed their orbit.

"Yes, yes! I know that some women — for whatever reason — don't enjoy being the creamy filling in a manmeat sandwich. But think about me for a second here!"

Under her breath, Ramirex muttered, "I was, until you barged in."

"What was that?!"

Ramirex smiled at her. "N-Nothing!"

"I am destined to be the greatest businesswoman in galactic history." Philomena slapped her palm against her breastbone. "And on my way to the top, I plan to collect a harem of fawning boytoys. But what am I going to do if that sizzling hot stud outside gets an eyeful of this disgusting pigsty?! He'll be thinking about this … this mess every time he rams his red-hot nuclear rod into my soothing reactor pool!"

Philomena thought about his pants sliding down. Revealing each pair of abs, one by one. The fabric scraping his skin, teasing those muscles. The fire raging inside his hips, burning so hot she could feel it from six feet away. A fire she wanted inside her, warming her up until she melted into a puddle of goo.

And then …

And then …

'I heard you have a mining business,' he whispered.

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As he eased his pants downward, he undid his fly. The V of fabric widened, drawing her eye just like the muscle lines etched into his stomach. Her eyes went downward, as he revealed more and more of his sculpted body …

'You must know a lot about … drills.'

His broad hand slid into his waistband.

'Well, I brought you a new one to dig with. This is for you, Philomena …'

In her mind, Philomena's eyes widened and her mouth fell open in awe. She clapped her hands over her stretched-out cheeks.

'ALL of it,' he declared.

She shuddered from head to toe … and especially in-between.

Then she shook her head and cast the fantasy off. She stomped over to a cluster of pipes in the warehouse's corner. The pipes came down from the maze running across the ceiling, and disappeared into the floor. The junction valves had mounds of crud caked all over them.

"Just look at this," she snapped. "Living here makes me look like some kind of … poor person!"

"But … aren't we poor?"

Philomena thrust her finger upward and shot Ramirex's stupid idea right back at her.

"I AM NOT POOR! I am broke! I might not have any money right now, but I still have the poise and style of a natural-born executive. Poor people don't have that, or they wouldn't be poor. Got it?"

"G-G-Got it!"

"Now, are you going to do your job and clean this place up?"

The running water seemed to weigh Ramirex's head down. Then she lifted it with a smile like invisible hooks were pulling at the corners of her eyelids and lips.

"You got it, Philomena!"

"That's what I like to hear." She went back to the door and opened it. "I'll distract him with my charm and my amazing business skills. You have fifteen minutes to clean the whole office. Start with all those nasty pipes."

"Wait, fifteen—?!"

"I don't want to hear excuses, I want to hear working!"

She marched through the door, leaving Ramirex and her whining behind. Giddy, Philomena smiled to herself.

That's how a true executive deals with uppity employees!

She hurried back to the entrance, combing her fingers through her red hair to straighten it and make sure it sat neatly on her head and shoulders. When she got to the door, she fiddled with the intrapanel and set it to open 25%. It parted a crack and then stopped, revealing Darrd waiting patiently for her. She twisted to the side and thrust herself through the narrow opening. Once she made it out the other side, she blocked the view of the lobby with her body and fumbled with the caged intrapanel until she got the door to close.

There's no way he could take his eyes off my stunning figure long enough to see how filthy it is inside.

She gathered her executive poise and smiled at him.

"Why, hello," she purred. "I'm Mina Kestrel, chief executive of Kestrel Mining. How can I help you, Mr. Darrd?"

"Hello. I'm here because lately the station has had a few concerns about this unit."

Darrd's laugh lines were perfect arcs along his sculpted cheekbones. The bulges in his cheeks were so perfectly round. And his teeth, all those perfectly-aligned white squares. As she gazed at his flawless face, she went a little weak at the knees …

… probably so it'd be easier for him to rip her thighs apart and stick that flawless face right into her—

Poise-y! she thought in alarm. Get your poise back, and … and be more poise-y!

"Is that so?" she asked. "Hmm, well, I'd love to straighten things out. So, why don't you start? Straightening things out, I mean."

She batted her eyelashes at him.

He consulted an omnitablet and swiped at its screen. "It seems your unit has been using an alarming amount of water lately, and it's put quite a dent into this level's water budget."

As the words came out of his mouth, they made a confused twitch build up in her eyelids. It slowly replaced her eyelash-batting.

"Wh-Whatever do you mean, Mr. Darrd?"

He raised his head to her, but the arm holding the tablet remained in the air, stiff and alert. "I'm sure you're aware that part of your rent goes towards filtering the station's water, and importing more water to replace lossage."

"Mhmmm …"

"So, if your unit has been using more water than your water budget allows for, it taxes the station's reservoir. In that event, you may be subject to fines and penalties."

"Mhmmm … Hm?"

"The other pressing issue is the nature of the water usage. The only thing that would account for this kind of water volume is a shower. Now, this is a commercial unit, and the only shower facility it's equipped with is a chemical burn shower. So I'll also need to investigate whether there's a safety hazard."

"S-S-Safety …?"

"To account for all these potential chemical burns."

A sudden dizzy spell struck her. For a moment, she thought the station's artificial gravity had failed. Although she kept her sultry smile attached to her face and her eyes locked on Darrd, she felt herself tilt sideways. She whipped her arm up and slammed it into the doorframe, abruptly halting her fall.

"Ha ha haaaaa, oh, Xavian!" She flapped her hand at him and rolled her eyes, waving away his practical joke. "It's not like that shower is just for chemical burns …"

"No, that shower is exclusively for chemical burns."

She continued smiling while she swallowed the enormous lump in her throat.

"Commercial units and residential units have very different water budgets," he said. "If you've been using this as a mixed commercial/residential unit, we'll need to raise your rent as well."

She swallowed another, much larger lump.

Smiling politely, Darrd gestured to the door behind her. "May I inspect the facilities, please?"

Trying to put a slinky curve into her spine, she slid her hand a little higher up the doorframe and cocked her hip as far as she could. She pursed her lips and batted her eyelashes at him with every ounce of poise and style she had in her.

"Come on, Xavian. We've barely gotten to know each other."

He said, "I'm happily married …"

Philomena smiled despite the flop sweat running down her face. She opened her mouth, while inside she scrambled to think of something coy and flirty to say to that.

"… to a wonderful man," he added.

"S-So bring him along!" she blurted out. "The m-more the merrier, right?!"

"May we go inside, please? Station management is authorized to inspect the premises no matter what, and I'd rather not involve the security forces."

Philomena gulped down the largest lump of all.

Ramirex, your time is up. That office better be spotless!